This invention relates to a dispensing top for a container holding particulate material such as spices and other foodstuffs. More particularly, this invention relates to a dispensing top formed of a single piece of thermoplastic and having dispensing ports for pouring, sifting and spooning functions.
For many years, suppliers of food product have sought to provide consumers with convenient and simple to use packaging. The packaging protects and stores the product, and also helps to sell the product to consumers. Particulate or granular food product, such as spices, salt, and sugar are packaged in various containers. In seeking to help consumers, manufacturers have developed packaging systems that have a container with a dispensing top. Some dispensing tops have movable closures that cover openings in the tops. Most of these tops are fitted with one or more dispensing ports for pouring, sifting or spooning food product. Few dispensing tops provide all three dispensing options.
Examples of dispensing tops having three dispensing ports include U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,107 to Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,981 to Nobakht, and U.K. Patent Application No. GB 2,135,981A by Swett et al. However, none of the foregoing has a pouring spout to guide the flow of product, none are formed of a single piece of material, and none have living hinges. U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,980 to Lindstrom discloses a three closure top. There is, however, no pouring spout and no living hinges are used. All United States patents referred herein shall be deemed incorporated by reference for all purposes as to their entire contents.
Smith discloses a rotary type closure having two-piece a rotatable selector cap mounted over a sealing disk. The sealing disk has openings for three different dispensing modes: pour, sift or spoon, while the selector cap has a single opening. The dispensing mode is determined by rotating the selector cap with respect to the sealing disk to expose the desired dispensing opening. The pour opening does not have a pivotally positionable spout to control the flow of product.
Nobakht and Swett et al. disclose a separable two-piece flap type closure top having a cover and a sealing member attached to the cover in fixed relationship thereto. The cover has three dispensing ports and the sealing member has three closure flaps corresponding to each port. None of the dispensing ports has a pouring spout or living hinges.
Rotary type closures have a rotatable rotor mounted over a base. The base has one or more openings through which product can be dispensed. The rotor has one or more openings that are registrable with the openings in the base when the rotor is rotated. Because the rotor openings do not have closure flaps, the container is closed by rotating the rotor until the rotor openings are out of alignment with the base openings. Thus, the rotor must have at least one area in which the web does not have any openings and, therefore, can block the openings in the base.
Thus, there exists a need for an easy-to-manufacture, one piece dispensing top having three dispensing ports for pouring, sifting and spooning product; and a spout integrally formed with the top. The present invention fulfills this need, and thus enables a manufacturer to reduce costs and provide users with multiple dispensing options.
In an exemplary embodiment, a one-piece single web dispensing top includes three separate dispensing ports. Each port is designed to dispense particulate material, such as spices, condiments and other food products. One port is configured to allow removal of product with a utensil such as a spoon, one port is configured to be used for pouring product and includes a spout, and a third port is configured for sifting product. The dispensing top is attached to a container, preferably with glue, although other attachment methods may be used, such as a threaded engagement means or a snap-fit method. Each dispensing port includes a closure flap for sealing. All three closure flaps are integrally joined to a raised planar surface of the dispensing top by living hinges. The closure flaps may be retained in the closed position by a friction or snap fit.
The present invention advantageously provides for larger dispensing openings than can be realized with conventional rotary type closures. The present invention, by contrast, uses closure flaps to close the container. In addition, the present invention advantageously requires less material than rotary type closures because the present invention requires only one thermoplastic web, not two webs. Yet another advantage of the present invention provides a three-mode dispenser that maximizes the size of the dispensing openings.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to combine the three primary dispensing options: pour, sift and spoon, into a single piece dispensing top.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a dispensing container that can be used with a variety of containers and a variety of particulate or granular products.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a multiple function dispensing top in which each dispensing opening has its own cover.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description thereof, presented in connection with the following drawings in which like reference numerals identifying the elements throughout.